Curse: Secret Unveiled
by FazarStorm
Summary: A dark force lurks beneath the everyday world. Five young heroes work to destroy it.Scroll 02 Up! Meet three new characters, and Damus visits a cave of possessed creatures! Please read and review, YOU'LL LIKE IT! :D
1. Introduction

_**Introduction**_

This is the history of Maple Story.

The year is 1552. The colonies of Victoria Island have been formed for only about two centuries, but they have been at war with each other for half that amount of time. The war originated when the colonies first discovered each other. There quickly became disputes between the colonies over different cultures and territory. The disputes became more heated as no side backed down. Soon, the waters broke, and the colonies declared war on each other, with each colony teaching its members that the other colonies were to be despised because of their skin colors and lifestyles.

Civilian life pretends to continue on as before. However, the schools that once focused on the studies of literature, science, and mathematics have shifted their focus to sharpening young minds for the art of warfare. It is within these schools that we find our young heroes, who are unaware of the great journey that they are soon to partake in…

**CAST**

**Main Protagonists**

Damus (Male, 17 years old)—Swordsman. Mainly a page, but has been trained to master the weapons and skills of fighters and spearmen as well, to a limited degree.

Raphael a.k.a. Raffi (Male, 18 years old )—Ninja. A rogue skilled in throwing weapons, with dagger mastery as a backup. He also has several other unique skills in his personal arsenal.

Esther (Female, 16 years old)—Cleric. She is younger sister of Aladar and Amity.

Aladar (Male, 17 years old)—Fire Wizard. Aladar is the younger brother of Amity and older sibling of Esther. He is a wizard of the flame, but can it be possible for him to channel his power elsewhere?

Marina (Female, 17 years old)—Hunter. She is an archer from the outskirts of Henesys, who has trained in solitude, refining her skills. Her personal training allows her to have found unique skills unknown to the typical archer.

**Side Characters**

**The Colony Leaders**  
Note: The colony leaders are the ancestors of the modern Four Wisemen. Eg, Hines is the ancestor of Grendel the Really Old. What a stupid name. How could he be a wiseman if he's stupid enough to call himself really old?

Hines (Male, age unknown, Ellinia army)—Magician. The leader of Ellinia.

Sitting Bull (Male, age unknown, Perion army)—Warrior. The leader of Perion.

Dark Lord (Male, age and true name unknown, Kerning army)—Ninja. The leader of Kerning.

**Other Side Characters**

Athena (Female, age unknown, Henesys army)—Archer. The leader of Henesys.

Sensei Asora-_ki_ a.k.a. "Kage-sen'nin" (Male, around 40 years old, Kerning army)—Teacher of Raphael.

Professor Hencroft (Male, around 35 years old, anti-war)—Leader of Perion museum's secret weapon history research.

Combat Master Lamati (Female, around 30 years old, Perion army)—Proud trainer of Damus.

Amity (Male, around 22-23 years old, Ellinia army, anti-war)—Elder brother of Esther and Aladar. He holds a high position in the Ellinia army thanks to his excellent talent for battle tactics, but he feels that the war is purposeless and destructive. He has taught Esther and Aladar some of the magic that they know.

**The Concordance**—A small collective of renegades who secretly work against the Victorian war. Their goal is to find a way to bring the Victorian war to an end. Amity is the leader of the Concordance.

**A/N (Author's Note): **There are, of course, more characters. However, it would simply spoil your enjoyment of the story. They will be introduced to you later on. Now, continue on to chapter one.


	2. Scroll 01: Mission Reconnaissance

**Scroll 01: Mission Reconnaissance**

**Date: November 28, 1551**

**Location: Perion SpecOps Training Arena**

**Time: 01:19 PM**

"Bring everything you've got, Damus!" yelled the woman from across the room. Her name and rank was Combat Master Lamati. She wore a crimson suit of armor. Above it rested a face with feminine qualities, but the eyes embedded within it burned with an inextinguishable pride and love for fighting. Her brown hair was hidden by a red bandana, but stray strands of hair fell to the sides of her face where she had not tied them down properly.

True to Lamati's words, Damus charged, raising a Traus in his right hand as he did so. He sported a golden Nordic helm on his head, which almost fully covered his matted dark black hair. He had a well-toned body, with definite muscle showing underneath the sleeves of the black shirt he wore under the chain mail. Even with his slight bulk, though, he seemed to be faster than the average person when he charged.

Lamati danced backwards as Damus brought down the Traus for a powerful slash. Unable to stop himself due to the forward motion of his attack, Damus allowed his momentum to roll him forward, bringing the sword upwards in a quick movement as he did so. Lamati blocked the weak swipe with the blunt part of her Rising, then used the blunt face of the axe to aim a blow to Damus helmet. Damus quickly rolled to the side and sprang to his feet, bracing himself for another attack.

Lamati shook her head. "That's enough for today, Damus," she told him. "We will practice more next time." She hoisted the Rising onto her shoulder and turned away.

Relieved, Damus loosened his grip on the Traus. He looked down at his belt, and began sheathing the weapon. But out of the corner of his eye, he caught a flash of movement. _I knew she would try to catch me with a surprise attack like that_, Damus thought with tired satisfaction as he sprang back and parried Lamati's blow with his sheathed sword, resulting in a muffle _thunk_ sound as axe met sheath.

Allowing the sword to fall to the ground, Damus grabbed the Titan from his belt and swung it in an arc at Lamati's chest plate. He was met by a metallic _cling_ as the broad blade of Lamati's Rising blocked his attack. Lamati brought back the axe and aimed a blow at Damus with the flat of the axe, forcing him to hastily duck and roll to the side. Unfortunately, Lamati swung the axe over her head in a backhanded swipe, and it was all Damus could do to block the axe with his Titan and avoid getting his head chopped off. From his position on the ground, he had a severe disadvantage compared to Lamati, and he wasn't being helped by the fact that Lamati had managed to twist herself around so that she was putting even more force being the blade. Lamati's eyes gleamed as she applied more pressure to the weapon, challenging Damus to find a way out of his situation.

With a yell of frustration, Damus whipped his leg in a hook maneuver. Lamati jumped away backwards over his leg, taking away the pressure from the axe with her. The instant the pressure was gone, Damus leapt to his feet, gripped the Titan, and charged. Lamati was waiting for him, and as Damus neared her, she raised the Rising and aimed a swipe at his chest. Damus, anticipating her reaction, abandoned his charge and sprang backwards a few feet. During the split second in which Lamati was still being carried away by the momentum of her swipe, Damus slipped behind her and dealt her a hammering blow to the back with the Titan, letting out a yell of triumph as he did so. The force of the blow sent Lamati skidding across the ground several meters until she hit the wall, stunned. After a few seconds of shock, Lamati groaned and sat up, lifting her hand up to rub the back of her head. Then she looked up and gazed at Damus.

Feeling suddenly ashamed of himself, Damus looked down at the ground and shuffled his feet. He tried to talk, to say something to loosen up the situation. However, his tongue seemed to be tied, and he could not think of anything to say.

Lamati chuckled, clearly noting Damus's uncertainty. "It's all right, Damus," she grunted as she hefted herself to her feet. Damus looked up, and was shocked to see a smile on her face as she looked at him. "You know, I must congratulate you. I haven't been dealt a blow like that in all the years that I've been fighting in the war," Lamati softly laughed. "And that's a pretty long time."

Damus was unsure how to respond. "Well—um—thank you, Master Lamati," he mumbled, uncertain if it was a good or bad thing that he'd hit his teacher so hard.

Lamati chuckled again. "You don't need to worry so much, Damus. You have been trained to be the top warrior in the Perion army—second to Sitting Bull, though, of course. You were given the best weapons you could hold, the best equipment we could provide, and—", here Lamati paused to give a roguish wink to Damus, "—the best teacher that you could possibly get. And now, you have bested me. My mission is complete. I have trained you to the best of my ability, and it seems that my efforts were not in vain." Damus looked at Lamati with bated breath as she gazed at him thoughtfully. Then, she shouldered the Rising and walked out of the training arena. "Please follow me," she requested to Damus as she walked out of the doorway.

Wondering what Lamati had in store for him, Damus hitched the Titan and the sheathed Traus into his belt, and then walked slowly out the door after Lamati. Down the hall, he saw Lamati waiting for him. She was standing outside of a room that Damus knew to be an armory for heavy weapons. It was always kept securely locked, and Damus had never been granted access to it before. Puzzled, Damus jogged down the hall. As Damus approached, Lamati took a ring of keys from her pocket, unlocked the door, and stepped in. Damus followed Lamati into the armory.

Inside, Lamati was striding over to a dull grey case in the back area of the room. While she was fumbling to find the correct keys, Damus took a glance around the room. The walls were lined with dozens of weapons hanging on metal racks, ranging from daggers, broadswords, spears, maces, and halberds. Damus longingly held the hilt of a small, but surprisingly heavy, golden-brown hammer. He was picking it up to take a few swings when Lamati called to him, "Damus, please come here." Slightly disappointed, Damus lay down the hammer and trotted over to where Lamati, and the now-unlocked grey case, stood. From inside the case gleamed a marvelous war hammer. It was large, obviously meant to be a two-handed weapon, and the metal that it was made of shined a pure, golden yellow. Damus noticed that engraved into the metal were strange markings, which surrounded a larger drawing that looked to Damus like an eye.

"It is indeed a magnificent weapon," smiled Lamati as she grasped the hammer by its handle. "You are now equal, if not greater than, me in battle strength. Although you were my student, I am your teacher no longer." Lamati turned the weapon so that she was offering the hilt to a shocked Damus. "It has been an honor to have had the training of you, the first Colossus. Please accept the Golden Mole as a gift from your former teacher."

Damus was stunned. He stuttered, "Master Lamati—this—are you sure you want to give such an awesome weapon to me? It looks fit for a hero!"

Lamati let out a soft chuckle. "Well then, Damus, who better to wield such a weapon than you? If this hammer was made for heroes, then you should be the first one to wield it."

Damus accepted the weapon, gazing at it a moment before looking at Lamati, saying, "I am no hero, Teacher."

Lamati chuckled again. "You are a hero Damus. You just haven't accepted it yet."

As Damus stood there, pondering her words, Lamati turned and walked out of the room. She paused in the doorway.

"Damus, as you have completed your combat training, there is no need for further lessons. I will return to my post in the war—as will you, soon. We will need your newly acquired fighting abilities. Please report to Sitting Bull seven days from now. I will see you there." Without waiting for Damus's good-bye, Lamati left the room.

Damus stood still for a moment, gazing down at the magnificent weapon in his hands. Then he hefted the hammer onto his shoulder, pressed the "Lock" button on the door of the armory, and left the room, his footsteps fading as he padded away down the hall.

* * *

**Date: November 28, 1551**

**Location: Perion Museum of Weapons History**

**Time: 03:07 PM**

Damus stood outside the Perion Museum of Weapons History, gazing up at the building. It was small, made of weathered stone like the rest of Perion, and nestled away in a small, quiet, almost forgotten corner of the city. As Damus stepped inside, his nostrils were met by the familiar, musty smell of aging artifacts. His footsteps quietly echoed throughout the soundless hallways as he traced his habitual path to a certain stairwell. Above it hung a sign on yellowed paper, reading, "Employees Only". Damus disregarded it and traipsed quietly down the staircase. Upon reaching the bottom step, Damus found himself in a long hallway lined with ancient objects. He passed quite a few rusty helmets, several glittering sword, and a rather large collection of old busts depicting old heroes, before he found himself blocked by a large metal set of double-doors at the end of the hall. To the right of the doors was a small panel set with numbers and letters. Damus punched a code into the panel, and smirked to himself as he thought that unbeknownst to the regular visitor, the _real_ weapons history research was behind these doors.

The doors parted, revealing a laboratory that, in contrast to the rest of the quiet museum, gently buzzed with whirring machinery. No one was operating them, but Damus hadn't expected there to be. Only one man took care of both the museum and the lab, and he was currently crouching in a corner of the room, with a protective mask shielding his face as he welded bits of metal to an impressive suit of armor. Damus strode over to the man, making sure to clank his armored boots loudly on the floor so that the man could hear him over the noise.

"Hi, Professor!" Damus yelled, stopping a few feet from the jumping sparks being emitted from the welding. The last few sparks bounced out of existence as the professor halted the welding tool and took his mask off, revealing a pair of twinkling grey eyes and a forehead that was only beginning to wrinkle from thinking too much. Professor Julian Hencroft was a middle-aged man, and although his hair was graying, the professor remained sharp and active as he ever was. To Damus, Hencroft was a sort of fatherly figure, who always maintained his position in the Perion museum in spite of others being drafted into the war. Professor Hencroft was a scientist and engineer. To the Perion military forces, he specialized in weapon history research; to himself and Damus, he specialized in research for the development of new weapons.

Hencroft smiled at Damus as he stood up. He pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket to wipe the perspiration off his forehead, asking, "Back already, Damus?"

Damus smiled. "Yeah. Master Lamati's stopped teaching me."

Hencroft raised his eyebrows curiously. "Really? Why?"

"She thought that I'm as strong as she is now, and according to her, there's no need for further training. I'm good to report to Sitting Bull in a week join the war."

"Hmmm," Hencroft murmured, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"And also," continued Damus, "She gave me a new weapon as a parting gift." Damus showed his hammer to Hencroft. "The Golden Mole!"

"Mole? Did I hear mole?" asked the professor, as he examined the contours of the golden weapon. "Such a useful number. Six point zero two two times ten to the twenty-third. What chemists would have done without Avogadro's constant, I couldn't imagine."

"Prof, don't go all techie on me," groaned Damus.

Hencroft chuckled. "Don't worry, I was just kidding with you. It is a very nice weapon," he said as he handed the Mole back to Damus. Turning, he gestured to the suit he had been working on. "It should work very well for you, along with your new armor over there."

Damus was shocked for the second time today. "What…? My armor? But isn't the armor I'm wearing good enough?"

"No," Hencroft stated. "It is not suited for the work that I would like you to perform before you leave in a week. It also has special enhancements that your current armor does not have."

"Sweet!" Damus exclaimed eagerly. "Can I wear it now?"

"No, not yet, Damus," Professor Hencroft smiled as he saw how anxious the seventeen-year-old was to don his new armor. "There are still some modifications that I would like to complete before I hand it to you. Fortunately, I have completed the part of the armor that is necessary to perform the work I am giving you."

"Oh, yeah," Damus said, having completely forgotten the work when Hencroft had mentioned the enhancements of the armor. "What kind of work are we talking about?"

The professor motioned for Damus to follow, and walked over to a small holographic computer display. Damus noted that the professor was the only person he knew to have such advanced technology—most people did not even know the technology existed.

The professor tapped a command into the computer next to the hologram, bringing up a map of the local area surrounding Perion. Damus noticed that several yellow blinking dots were scattered around the city, and that a small cluster of them was gathered to the northeast.

Hencroft pointed to the dots. "These lights are where strange incidents within the past year have been reported," the professor stated. "I do not believe that Sitting Bull or the Perion council has noticed any connection between them, but I think that there are similarities between the cases." He tapped another button on the computer keyboard, bringing up the image of a small report. "The reports are about civilians being attacked by wild animals. But the reports have been…puzzling. Nearly all of the victims who could be interviewed said that the animals seemed to act strangely, in comparison to other animals. They did not make the same sounds, or act the same way as normal animals…one of the victims phrased it, "It was as if they were possessed by something."

The professor tapped another key and the hologram disappeared. He looked at Damus. "This is where you come in, Damus. I want you to visit the central area of these incidents and see if you can find anything that might be a clue to the cause of these unnatural animal attacks. When you go, take these gloves with you," he said, handing a pair of armored gloves to Damus. "From scannings of the attack scenes, I have found traces of strange, potentially harmful energy. These gloves emit an energy frequency opposite to the energy I found, which safely neutralizes it. You should use them to pick up anything of interest you find."

Damus nodded. "Understood, Professor."

"Good. The center of the commotion is about two miles to the northeast of here. The map shows that there should be a cave within the area. Report back with whatever you find."

Damus snapped to a mock salute. "Roger, sir!" he said, winking at the Professor, before turning around and leaving the lab. Professor Hencroft chuckled as he left the computer and turned back to the suit of armor. "That kid sure isn't the standard soldier," he chortled to himself as he picked up his welding tool and turned back to his work.


	3. Scroll 02: Of Plots and Discoveries

Author's Note:

**Fazar:** Hey, guys! Fazar here, with another chapter of CURSE. Thanks for the positive replies, but you know, it would be really great if some people took the time to tell me what to improve about the story!

Grandpa Gunboss: Yeah, we'd appreciate it tons if you could take the time and say if you feel that the characters are out of their personality, if setting should be described more or less, whether scenes left a satisfactory or unsatisfactory impression on you, if a certain line was weak—you know, the works!

**Fazar**: You're not supposed to be here, Grandpa Gunboss. You don't appear until about 50 chapters from now.

Grandpa Gunboss: Call me Brondo. And dude, it's pretty boring to stand guard over the entrance to—

_(**Fazar** slaps Brondo on the back of the head)_

**Fazar:** SHHH! Don't spoil the story for the readers!

Brondo:Ow, sorry, dude. Just saying, I'm bored.

**Fazar:** Guess I better keep you occupied, or you'll be spilling spoilers for everybody. I'm giving you muse duty, and you're helping me out with comments.

**Brondo:** Sweet! Muse duty! My name's in bold, muwahahaha!

**Fazar**: So, yeah, send in what we need to improve...

**Brondo**: —like, you can't expect a dude to fix a problem unless you tell the guy what it is!

**Fazar**: ...and we'll make sure that we improve in the next scroll! Now, back to the story.

**Brondo:** I WUB MY FUNKY BOLD NAME! 3

**Fazar:** Oh, dear God, what have I just done?…

* * *

**_Last time on CURSE…_**

Damus has had his last combat lesson from his teacher, Master Lamati, and he has finally bested her in battle. As a parting gift, Lamati has given Damus the Golden Mole, a large and intimidating-looking war hammer. She has also informed him that he is to report to Sitting Bull in a week's time. After Damus took his leave, he paid a visit to Professor Hencroft, who promised him an impressive new suit of armor. Hencroft also delegated to Damus a mission in which he must investigate a cave close to Perion that seems to be the center of several strange attacks by possessed animals. What will Damus find in the cave? Well, that's the second part of the scroll. The first part of the scroll establishes important concepts, so please bear with all the talking so that you can understand what's happening later in the story! It's time to join our Ellinian heroes in:

**Scroll 02: Of Plots and Discoveries**

**Date: November 28, 1551**

**Time: 02:33 AM**

**Location: Concordance Outpost VII (Ellinia sector), Head Office**

(**A/N:** For your information and understanding, Amity is both advisor to Hines and leader of the Concordance. He uses his position under Hines to overhear information that is vital to the Concordance.)

"Amity, there had better be no other way to do this or I will personally kick your ass," Aladar growled, barely managing to keep his anger in check as he stood on the cheap carpet furnishings of Amity's office. He caught himself tapping his foot irritably on the floor and stopped. From the corner of his eye, he saw Esther lean against the wooden doorframe, her golden head bowed and emerald eyes deep in troubled thought. As he looked at her, Aladar thought, _We don't look anything alike_, _but we always depend on each other to help the other out. Hopefully, that's good enough to get us through this mission..._

Amity sighed and turned away from the starless night that he had been staring at through the window. A single faded gold medallion was pinned half-heartedly on his chest, denoting his rank of admiral—leader of the Concordance. Unlike Esther, he was unmistakably the brother of Aladar. They shared the same deep, amber eyes and flaming red hair, with the exception that Aladar's was tied back into a long, rough ponytail whereas Amity's hair was cut short. Lines of exhaustion cut beneath Amity's eyes, making him look five years older than his real age. He ran his hand through his hair in tired impatience. "We've gone through this already, Aladar. There just _is_ no other way. The Concordance's troops and supplies are limited enough as it is, and we were already being pressed to our maximum at the time when I learned that Hines had pulled his secret weapon out of his ass—"

Aladar snorted. "Yeah, everybody's been talking about Hines's stupid weapon, but since you haven't told anyone, nobody knows what the hell it is. Personally, I think any weapon _he_ makes can't be that bad. After all, the guy's a complete dumb-ass—"

Esther lifted her head and smiled. "You're not giving him enough credit, Aladar."

"It's true, though," Aladar insisted. "The only reason why all the Ellinians think he's so great is because Amity is behind him to correct his mistakes." He turned to Amity, looking for support. "Amity, remember when he told you his idea of raising public support for the war, and it turned out to be giving everyone in Ellinia a roasted turkey?"

Amity grinned—the first grin he had made during their conversation, Aladar noted—but it faded as he started to speak again. "I back him up because I need to. It's necessary that I keep up a pretence of supporting him so that he doesn't suspect that I'm spying for the Concordance. But you're underestimating Hines—even though his political abilities may be weak, his magical work is very powerful. You don't understand the potential of his weapon because you don't know what it can do."

Aladar heaved a sigh. "And you're still not telling me what it is, are you?"

Amity smiled wryly. "No, I'm not. I said I couldn't tell you until you managed to complete your mission and gather together a group that's strong enough to handle the weapon. If someone backstabs you, at least they can backstab you without knowing all the information of Hines's weapon—or the Concordance."

Aladar opened his mouth to speak, but Esther raised her head and interrupted him. "Amity, wouldn't it be better if we could give some information so that the people we find would have a tangible reason to believe us?" _Sensible as always_, Aladar thought in approval, turning to Amity, but he found that Amity was shaking his head.

"Esther, I understand that it will be hard to try to convince anyone without proper information, but the threat of leaking Concordance information to potentially hostile forces is simply too high." Amity glanced at Aladar before saying, "You both know that survival is the primary objective of the Concordance—no matter what. And that even includes Hines's new threat. If the Concordance falls, so does the resistance effort against the war." He sighed and sank heavily in his patched leather chair, then continued, "Hines's threat is deadly enough. But we cannot afford to use any of our own troops to dispose of the weapon, because then we would simply be spread out too thin to hold the Concordance outposts. On top of that, we wouldn't be able to send any of our soldiers anyway, because none of them are fit to handle the mission—either their physical or mental strength is lacking, and sometimes both. That goes for _all _of them. Aladar, you and Esther _are_ the best fighters we have, whether you admit it or not, and you are pretty much the only ones I can send on this mission."

Aladar glanced at Esther, searching for approval. Esther met his gaze and gave a small nod of approval. Aladar returned a nod of acknowledgement, then turned to Amity. "And what about you, Amity? You'll stay here to monitor things?"

Amity gave Aladar a wry smile. "Stay here, yes. Monitor things, yes—but only as best as I can with the stuff that we have here, since Outpost 01 was destroyed and the Concordance members within it obliterated."

"_What!_" Aladar and Esther both stared at Amity in disbelief. "Outpost 01...you mean the one in the Perion sector?"

Amity nodded his head sadly. "Yes...that one. Destroyed. And you know what that means."

Esther walked to the window and stared out at the ebony skies. Aladar shook his head slowly, silently honoring those who had died in the outpost, before moving on. It was necessary, in war. Casualties happened. But you couldn't let it get to you, otherwise you'd likely become a casualty yourself. Aladar looked up at Amity and spoke with an effort. "Destroyed...We're in deep shit now, then. Pretty much all our communications equipment was in the Perion outpost."

Amity nodded again. "Our technicians are rebuilding our equipment from scratch, but it's going to take a while. You're going to have to leave before then, because Hines's weapon must be destroyed as soon as possible. It's already had time to build up strength, so we need it to be out of the picture immediately. I have no idea how long it's been in place already—it might have been days, weeks, or months. We need it gone _now_."

"Right." Aladar scratched his head and sighed. "So, to recap our mission objectives—we're going on this crazy journey around the whole Victoria Island, bulldozing through a myriad of hostile enemy forces while staying in one piece at the same time, trying to convince the best enemy fighters that we can find to join us along the way, _without_ information, _without_ radios, and without _any_ consolation from our dear commanding brother except that we are most definitely, absolutely bitch-fucked?"

Amity smiled. "Well, think about it this way: if the odds weren't so high, then it wouldn't be quite so fun now, wouldn't it?" he asked, clapping Aladar on the shoulder.

"You're an ass, Amity," Aladar said, shaking his head bemusedly.

Amity chuckled, and the bags beneath his eyes seemed to fade a little. "It's a requirement of a commanding officer, brother. Now move out. I want you gone by sunrise."

(**A/N:** Yeah, yeah, I know. This was all politics. But it was necessary to establish later concepts. Hope you aren't completely bored, because we are going to the ACTION part of the chapter now! WOOT!)

* * *

**Date: November 28, 1551**

**Time: 04:06 PM**

**Location: Unexplored cave, two miles to the northeast of Perion**

" 'Pick up anything of interest'..." Damus muttered to himself as he stood outside the cave, gazing into its shadowy maw. Dead trees surrounded him, their branches leafless, creaking ominously although there was no wind. "Well, things should get pretty interesting enough, from the looks of things here...No big surprise that the victims thought the animals were possessed. I'm getting spooked just by being in this place..."

Setting the bag of tools that he had taken with him on the ground, Damus retrieved from it a small flashlight and shone it into the darkness. The shadows parted grudgingly before the beam, but the light failed to penetrate more than twenty feet into the darkness. Damus tried to hold the flashlight in different positions to see more of the cave, but the light did not go any further. Damus even thought that the cave had actually become more sinisterly dark than before, and he thought he had heard a very faint hiss from the blackness. He stood still for a long moment, but the sound did not repeat itself.

_Just my imagination_, Damus told himself, looping his bag around his shoulder, before nervously adding, _I hope_. He unsheathed his Traus—he had thought the sword would be better than the Golden Mole in a reconnaissance mission—then plunged into the murky darkness of the cave.

The dead silence of the cave was severely unnerving. By the light of his glow-in-the-dark watch, Damus could tell that it had been twenty minutes since he had entered the cave. Twenty minutes that had been filled with a menacing silence, broken by nothing save the sounds of Damus's own movement. As Damus looked up from his watch, he unintentionally kicked a small pebble, sending it clattering away down the long length of the cave. The rattling of the pebble filled Damus's ears, and he froze. If anything living was in this cave, it surely would be alerted to his presence now. He stood there in breathless anticipation for a long minute, but nothing came. Carefully, quietly, he started moving again—then stopped, thinking to turn off the flashlight to avoid detection. But then the thought crossed his mind that he would be in pitch-black darkness. He kept the flashlight on.

Another corner. Damus edged to it, placing his back against the wall. Cautiously, he peeked around the corner, flashlight in hand.

The passageway held nothing. Warily, Damus turned the corner and inched forward. Suddenly, the passageway in front of him widened. It was the doorway to another chamber of the cave. Damus passed the beam of light over the decrepit outer edge and saw strange symbols carved into it. Ancient runes, Damus realized as he examined a small, crumbling block of cave rock that had fallen from the doorway. He picked it up and stuffed it into his sack, then stepped through the doorway, his flashlight and Traus at the ready. As he entered the chamber, a warm yellow light flickered into existence and flowed from the ceiling to the center of the chamber, illuminating it but keeping the areas near the walls of the room in darkness. Startled, Damus held back at the entrance of the room, but nothing else happened.

_I'm getting a bad feeling about this_, thought Damus, unnerved. _There's only so many more times I can push my luck before something happens.._. He scanned the outer edge of the room, but the chamber's light revealed only the center, and, strangely, the flashlight did not pierce through the darkness for more than a few feet. Damus tried waving the flashlight in different positions, then gave up and turned his attention to the center circle that the light illuminated.

The outer edge of the circle was surrounded by six tall pillars of white marble. The floor of the light-filled circle was rock, plain but smooth, unlike the rest of the cave that Damus had seen. In the very middle of the center circle stood a small pedestal, about two feet high, with an indistinguishable object resting upon it. Damus walked up to the pedestal and examined the object. _A doll?_ Damus asked himself in surprise as he looked at it, careful not to touch it. _What's a doll doing in this place?_

The object was indeed a doll, but it was nothing like the kind of doll that a child would play with. To Damus, it faintly reminded him of the sort of doll that was used in voodoo. This doll was obviously old; the stuffing was falling out in clumps. Cautiously, Damus stretched out a gloved hand to the doll. Suddenly, his glove became warm and glowed a bright red for a moment, then the heat and light faded as quickly as it had come. _Must be the anti-energy function that the Prof built into the glove_, Damus reasoned. He carefully reached out, then grabbed the doll and waited in anticipation for something to happen.

Nothing did. An unprovoked sense of dread gripped Damus. Suddenly, he was anxious to get out of the cave. Quickly, he took off his gloves and stuffed them into his bag, making sure that they were kept firmly wrapped around the doll. He re-looped the bag around his shoulders and left the room at a swift pace. But as he crossed the threshold of the doorway, he heard a chilling moan from the room behind him. Damus whipped around, sword in hand.

The chamber had changed. The yellow light from the ceiling had disappeared altogether, so that the inner circle was no longer illuminated. Now, a spectral mist, ghostly blue in color, wafted up from the ground that had been in darkness a minute ago, outlining the outer ring of the room. The mist rose up from the entire ground of the outside ring, which emitted an eerie blue light up to the ceiling. As Damus watched the mist rise, he caught sight of six dark shapes atop the high pillars. The shapes leaped down from the pillars and landed. Damus switched on his flashlight and shone it on the nearest figure. The beam of light struck a slack face, which was a horrifying pallid gray in color. But it was the eyes that raised the hairs on Damus's neck. The pupil-less eyes stared blankly at him, devoid of any kind of animal intelligence that might have previously existed within them. An blood-curdling scream emitted from the beasts, striking fear into Damus's heart.

He turned tail and broke into a dead run—the first time that Damus had ever fled from a battle. The ghoulish shrieks of the beasts followed him relentlessly, echoing and re-echoing chillingly against the walls of the hellish cave. Long after they had faded away, Damus continued to run, the blood-curdling screams of the beasts still resounding in the hallways of his mind.

* * *

**A/N:** Well, now it's getting more obvious why the story is called CURSE, isn't it? I didn't mean to make the first part so political, nor the second part so dark in plot, but I guess they came out that way because they had to. Again, please leave CONSTRUCTIVE comments. And I might be changing scroll 01 to add a new concept of Damus's origins.

'Til next time—

Fazar


End file.
